Web Development

How to Use Plugins in WordPress

doug@websitemagazine.com (Doug Hughes) — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 05:00:00 GMT

Plugins are one of the main reasons why WordPress is so popular. They allow you to add functionality to your website without the need for coding or technical knowledge. In this article, we'll discuss what plugins are, how to install and manage them, and some essential plugins that every WordPress site should have.

Top 10 Tips to Build a Google-Friendly Site

Adam Dince — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 06:00:00 GMT

These days, marketers are doing everything they can to leverage non-paid marketing channels to increase operating income and decrease spend. One of the most impactful areas of non-paid marketing is search engine optimization (SEO).

STAT WATCH: The Shift to "Cloud" is Nearly Complete

peter.devereaux@websitemagazine.com (Peter Devereaux) — Mon, 16 Jan 2023 06:00:00 GMT

If your business is not operating (at least in part) within the cloud you are likely feeling increasingly alone.

New cloud usage research from data virtualization provider Denodo finds that organizations are eager to adopt cloud based architectures in an effort to support their digital transformation efforts, drive efficiencies and strengthen customer satisfaction. No surprise there really, but how they are using the cloud is important to understand.

According to the study, the vast majority of those polled (76%) indicated they are using cloud solution with almost half stating they use Amazon AWS (47%), followed by Microsoft Azure (20%), and Google Cloud Platform (13%). Half of respondents said they are implementing a virtual private cloud, with cloud provider preferences closely aligned with those listedabove. The two most utilized cloud platforms according to Denodo's research are AWS and Azure.

What are these companies actually doing in the cloud?

Amazon Enhances Alexa Skills Kit Developer Console

Gary Lester — Mon, 16 Jan 2023 06:00:00 GMT

Anyone with a smart home device has at least thought of creating a way to interact with their device, and it's getting easier and easier to do so every day.

Amazon, for example, recently made an update to its Alexa Skills Kit Developer Console - the platform where voice app makers develop their workflows.

The console now offers separate sections for building, testing, launching, and measuring Alexa skills - meaning developers can create skills in the visual interface, test their performance, push them live, and then see how consumers respond in order to make adjustments and all in one integrated environment. The updated system even comes with a built-in checklist and validation support at each step. Our early testing of the new console revealed a much more streamlined offering in general.

What developers will find iis a greater emphasis on visualizing the flow of the conversation with Alexa than in the previous version (existing users can toggle between the two consoles to see the difference). Developers will have a visual interface for creating skill components, such as intents, slots, sample utterances, as well as the dialog model.

Alexa Skill developers can also test their skill in the console. The "Launch" page now shows developers common validation errors, and offers support for publishing private skills for Alexa for Business (this was limited previoulsy to those publishing the Alexa Skills Kit Command Line Interface).

Developers will also be able to track metrics around sessions, utterances, unique customers, and even cohort analysis, under the new "Measure" tab.

How Serverless and ReactJS are Changing the Rules of Web Development

Thomas Witt — Mon, 16 Jan 2023 06:00:00 GMT

By Thomas Witt, Scrivito

We all know the adage "Fast, Good, Cheap - you can only pick two." Develop something quickly with high quality, but it will be costly. Develop it fast and on a budget, but you'll lose quality. Develop with quality and and low cost, but it will take a long time.

How to Embed AI in your Enterprise App

Tripti Rai — Mon, 16 Jan 2023 06:00:00 GMT

Artificial intelligence has become synonymous with an efficient, intelligent work process. There is hardly any application left which doesn't employ AI in one way or another.

If there is one application category where you can see the implication of AI at large, it has to be the Enterprise.

Top 10 Web Development Trends of 2017

Derek Robinson — Mon, 16 Jan 2023 06:00:00 GMT

Technology is constantly changing. As a Web developer, you need to stay ahead of the game by changing with technology. The confusing thing is that there are many developments and updates being released on a weekly basis.

With the year in full swing, let's review the top 10 Web development trends that could impact website design updates and complete overhauls. This will help you better anticipate trends as well as understand where to devote resources (time and money) within the world of Web development.

Mobile Apps & Developing Deeper Customer Connections

Doug O'Keefe — Mon, 16 Jan 2023 06:00:00 GMT

Could a smart, useful and social-enabled mobile app be the key to enterprise success? One fashion brand hopes it can.

Mobile commerce platform PredictSpring has partnered with with lifestyle brand Tommy Hilfiger to build and launch its first mobile application targeting the European market.

NativeScript SideKick from Progress in Focus

peter@websitemagazine.com (Pete Prestipino) — Mon, 16 Jan 2023 06:00:00 GMT

Companies that quickly deliver mobile apps across various device platforms can gain a significant competitive advantage, but it can be quite challenging.

Developers are often constrained by traditional mobile development approaches, a lack of skill sets to develop applications for each and every type of mobile platform - which results in slow time to market. Fortunately, there are some solutions emerging which aim to reduce (if not eliminate) the most common issues of app development for mobile.

Progress, for example, a provider of application development and deployment technologies, recently announced new tooling and capabilities for its NativeScript open source framework that should make native cross-platform mobile development easier and faster.

The announcement includes the release of NativeScript Sidekick, a companion to NativeScript that offers starter templates, verified plugins, cloud builds and debugging capabilities. It also includes the release of augmented reality support for iOS 11 and Android Oreo, the NativeScript Marketplace and verified plugins, the release of free NativeScript UI widgets, and more.

NativeScript Sidekick is essentially a GUI client (available for Windows, macOS, and Linux) that enhances the power of the NativeScript Command-Line Interface (CLI). Sidekick, according to the Progress announcement, is designed to be an unobtrusive companion that complements a developer's preferred code editor, IDE, or source control system or other tools. SideKick offers iOS provisioning profile/certificate generation, improved LiveSync, and a preview of Visual Studio support.

"As the popularity of NativeScript has skyrocketed, with more than one million downloads this year alone, we've seen it evolve into something more than just an open source framework. Developers are embracing it as their choice for cross-platform mobile app development," said Todd Anglin, VP Product, Progress.

"The introduction of new tools such as NativeScript Sidekick demonstrates our ability to keep in lockstep with market needs and with the latest advancements in JavaScript development. giving developers everything they need to build the mobile apps of tomorrow from a single codebase, using their existing web development skills."

Invisible reCAPTCHA Introduced by Google

Daniel Gibson — Mon, 16 Jan 2023 06:00:00 GMT

There are now two types of reCAPTCHA for developers (or really any one concerned with form completion and the user experience) to choose from.

This week Google introduced a way for human users to pass directly through or over a reCAPTCHA based on their activity on a website. Let's take a look at the two types now and how they differ:

The first option 'reCAPTCHA v2' (reCAPTCHA v1 has been deprecated since May of 2016) requires the user to click a checkbox indicating they are not a robot. This action will either pass the user immediately (with No CAPTCHA) or challenge them to validate whether or not they are human. This is the simplest option to integrate with, requiring just a fe lines of HTML to render the checkbox.

The second option, 'Invisible reCAPTCHA', does not require the user to click on a checkbox. Instead, the reCaptcha it is invoked directly when the user clicks on an existing button on a site or can be invoked via a JavaScript API call. The integration requires a JavaScript callback when reCAPTCHA verification is complete. By default only the most suspicious traffic will be prompted to solve a captcha. To alter this behavior edit your site security preference under advanced settings.